Twist and Turn, Blue Waves Across the Silky Vast
by Kisuru-chan
Summary: Hideki brushes Chii's hair even though he is nervous. Chii is fascinated but impatient. Fluff, slice of life.


A/N: Written as a Writing Rainbow: Blue 2019 exchange gift for Welsper.

-()-

"Hey, Chii?" Hideki called over to the other side of the apartment. "Are you awake? Come here for a second. I'll show you something."

Hideki placed the small box in his hands on the floor and motioned for her to look. He lifted the lid. A long brush sat on a cushion.

"Hideki wants Chii to see?" Chii asked. Slowly, she propped herself up on her knees on top of the futon. She kicked off a blanket and inched towards him on the floor, dropping the pillow held tightly in her arms. She tiredly rubbed her eyes from a lazy Sunday afternoon nap.

Hideki watched Chii's hair fell like a halo around her shoulders and swish past her waist. Usually, her hair was light and fluffy. A wave of embarrassment washed through him. Chitose had been right; she had noticed the strands were less billowy. She had been observant to her looks more so than him. He had only thought of her clothes recently.

No, hair wasn't one of his strong suits.

"This is?" Chii asked, poking the box.

"A hairbrush," Hideki said.

"Hair," Chii repeated in short.

"Hibiya-san gave me this brush yesterday, because she saw your hair," Hideki said. He had paid attention to everything else about Chii from her upkeep to basic looks, but he had skipped on the details for this, too. "She said I need to make sure I take care of it."

"Why will Hideki take care of Chii's hair?" Chii asked curiously, stopping next to his side.

"Hair is important. Like the rest of your body, but it needs extra care," Hideki explained.

"Hair… More important than panties?" Chii whispered, puffing her cheeks thoughtfully.

Hideki colored, shaking his head. "Well… In a way. Everyone sees your hair. It's long and delicate and you don't want people to see it is unkempt." He waved his hand towards the floor. "And…. You roll around on the floor a lot, and you play and don't always watch it. We can't just let it get tangled and ruined."

She didn't know what he meant. Wasn't she supposed to have fun? He didn't sound angry, so she couldn't have done anything wrong. As she processed the new information, Chii's head bobbed back and forth, tilting upwards, as she watched Hideki lift the hairbrush from the box and hold the front end towards her.

"She said she had this leftover brush and the color of it reminded her of you," Hideki said.

"Chii?"

Chii didn't know why the brush would have any connection to her. She squinted, trying to pick apart any old memories she knew. She remembered walking with Hideki on a sunny day while they enjoyed the summer warmth.

She took the brush and tipped it to the side.

The wooden hairbrush curved into an oval shape. The handle elongated in a long paddle.  
An ornate floral pattern of soft blue and white flowers decorated the brush's backside and the wide edges in vines and criss-crosses.

"Blue. This brush is blue," Chii said, decisive. She pointed at the apartment's window. "The sky is blue. Blue means it is daytime. Hideki taught Chii 'blue' on a walk in the town."

The light streaming in the window on the floor was a dusky orange color due to the evening sunset. To Hideki, she had the concept close.

"You're right, Chii," Hideki praised. He took the brush back. "But the sky is darker than the day. You call this evening. Or twilight."

Chii's mouth opened, then closed, and she nodded. She never knew the day could be so many shades of color! Of course she made sure that she took this information to heart—Hideki did not let her out at strange night hours. She went outside when the sky was bright, so she understood a bit more—but this was the first time she had a word for it.

"Ev… en… ing…" Chii sounded. "Twi… light?"

The words were odd but had a charm to them. Chii examined the sky outside the reaches of the tiny apartment window and then returned to the brush. What he said was true. The sky wasn't light; the brush was a stark contrast.

"Chii likes this brush," Chii decided.

Hideki relaxed. Sometimes he wasn't the best with every little thing concerning Chii, but the assurances she gave him always cheered him back up. "Hibiya-san really does know more about this kind of care thing, doesn't she?"

He stood and knelt behind Chii on the floor. She shifted awkwardly, but he was too hyper-focused on her hair and its glimmer-y yellow sheen to speak. Her hair was… beautiful. He didn't have a word for it than that. Blonde hair was already enough to set her apart in appearance from normal persocoms, but for Chii, he could stare at her for hours. For real, he could touch it? Abruptly, he was nervous.

Gulping, his grip intensified on the brush.

He had never combed a girl's hair! Obviously. Extremely obviously. Words from the previous day thankfully rushed back. To help, Chitose had told him to be careful and not pull on it because it may hurt even though Chii wasn't human. That was the basics of dealing with hair—he didn't plan on it! But he was relieved for the reminder, because the echo of her voice calmed him down. Other than that…

Okay, okay. He had to start and get better.

He curled a strand of her hair around his finger. The soft fabric for Chii's skin, robotic springs and hard underneath surface, and her heaviness were understandable. But her hair wasn't anything like the artificial feel of wigs. It was too realistic. The natural fibered hair's resemblance to living hair was so striking and warm that he wondered how Chii couldn't be breathing. If her hair had had been synthetic, he supposed, he wouldn't be able to style it the way he personally preferred, which made the experience twice as good to enjoy. Its gloriously silky feel tempted him to go on.

"Sit up for me?" Hideki asked.

Chii straightened rim-rod straight. She squared her shoulders and held up her head, but she rocked back and forth impatiently, still wanting to see Hideki face-first instead of setting for hearing his voice behind her.

"You can't squirm," Hideki laughed.

"Chii wants to look at Hideki," Chii voiced.

"I won't be able to brush your hair."

Chii considered this. Hideki wanted to comb her hair. She wanted whatever Hideki wanted, so she guessed that was acceptable. But she shrugged anyway; she didn't understand why that meant she couldn't look him in the eye,

Chii didn't have to wait long to find out the answer. Hideki unclipped the pink barrettes holding her hair up in pigtails and dropped them. The brush's bristles carefully landed on her hair above the base of her neck. She tensed at the feeling, but the brush didn't move and give her further clues. Twitching, Hideki froze up, brain swimming. Another dilemma presented itself. Which way should he move first!? His hair was easier to deal with—much, much shorter, for a start—and he didn't want to make hers messier.

"Stopped," Chii said, disappointment audible.

Hideki hastily flexed his wrist. Consciously, he relaxed and unwound the cramped muscle. Of course he was overthinking it all. "Yeah," he admitted. "It's… difficult. Difficult, okay?" Hair wasn't that complicated. Correction: Combing a guy's simple hair wasn't a big deal, and a girl's hair past her waist was the epitome of serious. "Let's try again. Wait a minute."

And he pulled the brush downward in a small stroke. The bristles glided, the ends sinking in the pliable fabrics under it. The strands of hair rippled and parted as he repeated the motion, then again, and his confidence rose. While he settled into the action, the bristles snapped on a snag. A new fear raced through him. What if he combed her hair too hard and pulled too much? What would happen?

"Did you notice anything?" Hideki asked, eyebrows knitting in a bout of concentration, freeing the hairbrush of the spot he hit to make sure. "Did I… Did that hurt at all?"

Chii picked the lacy cuff of her summer dress. He sounded worried and she didn't know why. Hideki would never hurt her, so she discarded the little possibility of that immediately. "Chii doesn't know," she replied. She did not have pain receptors where the hair follicles directly met her scalp like a human. "Chii is okay."

Hideki sighed. Fooling around wasn't allowed anymore! Emboldened, he continued, letting the bite of the brush do the work for him. To his relief, the light blonde strands didn't snap or catch in the brush's bristles. Perhaps her hair was attached more firmly than real hair was and weren't meant to shed. As a Chobits, she was not meant to break easily. Still, the daily routine task of hair care going haywire for his persocom while he learned the ropes was a dimension of anxiety that crept up.

He wove a patch of her hair around his fist and let it pool on his palm. Parting the middle, he moved the brush deeper inside the mesh of hair and worked on the hidden tangles. He traced his fingers through, thumbing it, the strands enveloping his entire hand in bliss. As he went, he became used to the way the hair curled in a curtain and the rougher spots. He pulled the brush in a line down her head until hair flowed at her sides in smooth bunches.

Chii blinked, flinching. Hideki paused and hoped his confidence hadn't overdone itself. She touched her floppy white-pink ear.

"Tickles," Chii murmured.

Hideki put two and two together, running his fingertips over the brush bristles. He smiled.

"Chii's hair is okay?" Chii asked. She couldn't help herself and glanced over her shoulder.

"Yeah," Hideki said. Under the sunlight her hair shone orange. "Looks perfect now."


End file.
